P5. Find a "Template" Paper
Now that you have selected a topic for your paper, find a paper that can help guide the way you write - serving as a kind of “template” for your paper. It need not be on the same topic, but it helps to have it from the same field and a roughly similar structure, as explained below. And preferably short!
Using this as a kind of template will give you guidance on structure and organization. You will probably refer to this quite a bit, so choose a paper on a topic you like.
STRUCTURE: The structure of a paper is determined (primarily) by its goal and its audience, for instance to (1) convey novel results to a group of peers (as most scientific papers do), (2) convey the thesis work of a student to a university, (3) summarize the research done over a period of time on a particular subject, or (4) introduce the general public to a particular scientific topic. For this course we are following #1.
Remember: To serve as a template the paper does not have to be on your own topic.
You can look for papers by using e.g.:
- Your local library; see: Google Will Not Show You What Your Instructor Wants You To Find